


Lapse of Control

by WaltzQueen



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:28:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28661733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaltzQueen/pseuds/WaltzQueen
Summary: The most powerful GF can't move Squall Leonhart.Coincidentally, neither can a PS2 controller.
Kudos: 5





	Lapse of Control

Squall wakes up. His eyes linger on the ceiling. It's the same dream again. It's always the same dream. Someone is waiting. There's a battle. Petals and feathers eddy in the middle distance. The battling man taunts Squall with a smirk. The waiting woman falls into Squall's arms as though struck. And then he wakes up.

Squall can hear him coming. He hates this part because the man asks how he's feeling and, now.... Now it happens.

Rather it doesn't happen. Squall can't move. He can hardly think. Play down the pain or admit to the swelling ache behind his eyes? The choice doesn't matter, because he can't even speak. He can never speak. He doesn't even want to try; he just wants to lay in the bright light and listen to the bird song because as soon as he tries reality will come crashing down again. But Time listens to no one and he has to try. He burns and itches and aches to try, even as he dreads the inevitable result.

It fails.

And reality falters, shudders,collapses.

Squall wakes up. Again.

Again.

Again.

He can barely string together thoughts but he can generate motions just fine and He hates this. He hates this endless cycle of waiting to fail because he still hopes he can succeed one day. Eventually Squall can make it past this paralyzing fugue before the world shatters from the force of his failures. At least, he hopes so.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Again. Again.

Once more.

This time, for sure.

Any time now.

Come on!

COME ON!

For Fuck's Sake!

Fuck this. Fuck you. He doesn't know who _you_ are but Fuck You! Fuck the waiting woman and fuck the fighting man. This is horseshit. This is unreasonable. Godsdammit.

 _Again_.

Or maybe fuck Squall for trying. Only a stupid punk like him would know what happens when he tries this and continue to try anyway. Maybe he should just enjoy the bird song and the sight of the cheap ceiling against his drying eyes.

Again. Again. Again. Again.

This bed is pretty mediocre. He's been on better. He can't recall where, exactly. He knows he could recall later if only he could get up. if only he could answer. if only he could think.

Again.Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. It's clear.

He thoughts are clear and the novelty of it strikes the metal of his frustrated heart. His thoughts are clear. He can make a choice. He can think. It's progress, but is it freedom? Squall lays atop the mattress and listens to the bird song for a long minute. He breathes in and out. There is no real way to shore up defenses against hope like this but he makes the effort, regardless. In and out.

Could this really work? Could he finally be free? Well, better to lance the boil now than let it fester. Squall replies.

"My forehead hurts."

\--------------------------------------

Somewhere far and away a frustrated woman exclaims with pleasant surprise. "Oh I needed a **PS1** controller!.....Huh."

**Author's Note:**

> Dude I tried to many times to play this fucking game on a ps2 controller and I was loosing my shit when i realized I was just an idiot. I sat through that intro so many times, hoping each new controller would be the one that worked. At one point i thought my guitar hero controller was moving the cursor until i realised i had left a ps1 controller plugged in to the PS2, also.


End file.
